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Preparation

Trim fennel stalks flush with bulbs and discard any tough outer layers. Cut bulbs lengthwise into 1/8-inch-thick slices and, if desired, halve slices lengthwise. Transfer fennel to a bowl of ice and cold water. Chill fennel at least 30 minutes, or until crisp, and up to 3 hours.

Preheat oven to 450°F.

While fennel is chilling, make dip:

Quarter bell pepper lengthwise and discard stems, seeds,and ribs. In a shallow baking pan arrange quarters skin side up. Separate garlic cloves, leaving skins intact, and wrap together in foil. Add garlic package to pan with bell pepper and bake in upper third of oven 20 minutes. When cool enough to handle, peel pepper and transfer to a blender. Remove garlic from foil and squeeze pulp into blender.

In a small heavy skillet dry-roast cumin and caraway seeds over moderate heat, stirring, until fragrant and a few shades darker, about 1 minute, being careful not to burn them. In a cleaned electric coffee/spice grinder grind seeds to a powder and add to pepper mixture with remaining dip ingredients. Purée mixture until smooth. Dip may be made 5 days ahead and chilled, covered.

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Recent Reviews

This is a hard one. I really liked it, but nobody else did. Maybe it's because I really like bell peppers. But, I put in half the amount of sour cream, lemon juice, and cayenne pepper. . . Too bad, was not a crowd pleaser.

KnitterGirl /

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Terrible! This recipe is a total waste of roasted peppers and garlic. If you must try this recipe, skip the caraway seeds. They completely overpower the entire dip. I made this for a party and it went practically untouched.

epicureec /

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This recipe had a rich flavor that everyone liked and was easy to prepare. I used the leftover dip on the next day"s vegetables, delicious. Fennel is very expensive($3.00/bulb) so I used crackers.

judy135 from Novato, CA /

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I thought I would like this dip, but it was the sour cream--I didn't like it and neither did my guests. If I made this again, I would roast and puree more peppers and completely omit the sour cream and I would serve it with crostinis or crackers--not fennel.

A Cook from chicago, il /

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This is a suprisingly tasty dip, we love it. I make it over and over again because it is so simple and sooo good.